ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION
Purpose: To ensure the environmental sustainability of the existing Upper Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway System through the implementation of ecosystem restoration projects.
What Are Ecosystem Restoration Projects?
They can include many different approaches to improve, expand, or protect river or backwater habitat. Some recent examples include: island building; construction of fish passages; floodplain restoration; water level management (including water drawdown); backwater restoration; side channel restoration; wing dam and dike restoration and modification; island and shoreline protection; topographical diversity; dam point control; use of dredged material for environmental purposes; tributary confluence restoration; spillway, dam, and levee modification to benefit the environment; and land and easement acquisition.
Why Restore Habitat?
- The Upper Mississippi River's diversity and abundance of native aquatic plants and animals are seriously threatened by the adverse effects of navigation, loss of habitat and the arrival of several exotic species.
- Ecosystem restoration actions positively influence local species diversity, abundance, and habitat stability to ensure long-term ecological health and sustainability of the Upper Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway System
- Currently, the ecosystem consists of ~2.7 million acres of bottomland forest, islands, backwaters, side channels, and wetlands.
- This habitat supports more than 300 bird species, 57 mammal species, 45 amphibian and reptile species, 150 fish species, and nearly 50 mussel species.
- More than 40 percent of North America’s migratory waterfowl and shorebirds depend on the food resources and other life requisites (e.g., shelter, nesting habitats, etc.) that the system provides.
- In the middle and southern portions of the basin, the habitat provided by these rivers represents the most important and abundant habitat in the region for many species.